Controversial GOP voting restrictions edge closer in Texas as Senate passes bill

Bill passes after lengthy filibuster

A bill that would prohibit a handful of expanded voting opportunities pioneered by some Texas precincts in the last election has passed the state Senate, bringing the state closer to implementing the latest round of GOP-led statewide voting restrictions since former President Donald Trump’s November defeat.

The legislation passed the Senate chamber on Thursday shortly after a 15-hour filibuster led by a Democratic senator ended. It will now head to the state House, where Democrats are pursuing a much different course and have fled the legislature in an attempt to thwart the bill’s passage; Republicans have issued orders for their arrest, but none have been jailed thus far.

The bill’s provisions include bans on 24-hour service at voting precincts as well as new restrictions and potential criminal penalties for those who assist others with voting, a move that has alarmed advocates for the rights of persons with disabilities.

Republicans have characterized those aspects of the bill as efforts to tamp down on so-called “ballot harvesting”. Democrats have argued that much of the bill’s language appears aimed at targeting communities that sought to expand access to voting in 2020, when unprecedented concerns about large crowds gathering in public led to local leaders pursuing new ways to allow people to vote.

The GOP has also pointed to parts of the bill that slightly expand early voting by lowering the population threshold over which counties must provide 12 hours of early voting for the second week of the early voting period, while also mandating nine voting hours (up from eight) per day during the first week of early voting.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas called the bill “a ruthless piece of legislation” in May.

“It targets voters of color and voters with disabilities, in a state that’s already the most difficult place to vote in the country,” said Sarah Labowitz, the group’s policy and advocacy director. “The defining message of the 2021 Texas legislature is clear: Political leaders chose to punish their constituents instead of fixing the electrical grid or providing pandemic or blackout relief.”

State Sen Bryan Hughes, the GOP author of the legislation, countered in a statement to the Texas Tribune that the bill was balanced between restrictions on alleged fraud (which experts at the federal level have said is not a significant issue for years) while also expanding access for legitimate voters.

“We’re talking about [it being] easy to vote, hard to cheat, and that’s what this bill is about,” he told the Tribune. “It cracks down on those vote harvesters, those paid political operatives who try to coerce voters, who try to mislead voters, who try to get in between the voter and her ballot. We will not have that in Texas.”